Spearing the moon
by Nutcase friend
Summary: A short side story to Two Worlds Clash. This will not be like Dreams, Wishes and Nightmares, so Beast isn't in it. It is simply the detailed story of how Calamity and Buck made her legendary spear which is mentioned in TWC. They are only twelve at the time, and there is no above-grounders or complicated storyline of my actual fic, just a simple family adventure. Completion soon.
1. Chapter 1

_In the heart of the jungle north of the village sits a ginormous Curtin fig tree. Its roots twisted and moulded into the earth for acres around it, encasing the tree around it into a loving embrace, and providing protection and shelter for all those that choose it, if they treated it with respect. One particular family of weasels had been welcomed by this old tree, as it saw their potential and importance. Trees know more than any other creature, mobile or not. They are connected to each other, and thus are connected all over the world, and grow in wisdom as they grow in size and strength._

 _It has been thirteen years since the fight against Regal Red and his band of Tyrants. Buck and Lucy have reared their two kits inside the roots of the great Curtin Fig, understanding how much the tree meant to them. The tree watched over the two kits fondly, especially when their Dinosaur Taming Father was not around. The tree felt something for the one eyed male, feeling as if he was an old friend. So, the tree felt it needed to be there for the two kits when need be. He watched both grow in personality, and in their own ways, wisdom._

 _The small female sometimes reminded the tree of a flame, wild and unpredictable, and however much you thought she would behave, she would twist with the world around her. Normally a tree would fear the burning of a flame, but this small girl may bite, but she did not burn. She may bark and balk, but she did not scorch. The tree would enjoy it when she scrambled high onto its trunk and into its branches, letting her clamber as she adventured and grew. The tree was amused and strengthened by her wild spirit._

 _The small boy was calm and confident in his own quiet way. He watched, and learned differently. Often times the boy would sit quietly with the tree, witling away at dead wood and turning them into something beautiful. After the excitement of the girl, the tree appreciated a being more like itself, one that was patient and content with being comfortable._

 _The mother of these two was a friend of plants especially, and often would pat the tree in a silent respect and gratitude, which the tree also appreciated. She was one to get rid of harmful tree viruses when they sometimes appeared on the bark of the fig tree, and taught her children very early not to cut the tree, another thing the tree was thankful of._

 _The tree would watch the kits go through their stages in life, and another step was just around the corner.  
_

Twelve-year-old Calamity jumped from root to vine to trunk and back to root again. She slid on roots that looped out of the ground and back into it, creating and arch, and she pulled back and slung off ones that stuck out of the ground like spikes, which catapulted her through the air for a short distance. Buck, her father, had told her that soon she would be too big to do that, and it might hurt the tree, so she was taking advantage of it while she could.

Jai was ignoring his sisters adventure around the tree she had scaled a thousand times, and was carving away at another piece of wood, snuggled into a natural chair in the roots. Calamity had tried doing it in the past, but she soon got bored and distracted, and found herself running off and doing something else.

Cal was trying to perfect a trick she'd been practising while her father was gone, so she could show him when he got back. She stopped on a root that had risen particularly high, and prepared herself for another go at the trick. Taking a deep breath, she leapt off the root and started gaining momentum by running along other roots and bouncing off the trunk every now and then. The further she ran the faster she moved her legs, gaining speed and growing more confident.

When she finally jumped decidedly to one of the loose vines she had tested for her purposes, she had gained enough momentum to swing strongly enough to gain height. The vine didn't lag at her weight, but speedily made a huge arch. When the vine was as high as it was likely to go, Calamity pushed off the vine and tried once again, the summersault.

She tucked her head in with her arms out like wings, and curved the rest of her body over her head, until her legs were once again below her body.

She'd done it! She'd completed a full front-flip in mid-air!

There was only a second of celebration when Calamity realised something was wrong. She was too far off the ground, and the momentum of doing the flip was still pushing her forward. Instead of landing on her feet, she'd be landing on her face!

Her throat clenched in fear and she gave out a short panic of a yell, and prepared herself as she ground got closer.

* * *

Jai and Cal had been out all morning, Jai carving at wood and Calamity doing whatever crazy thing she was doing. Mostly he tried to ignore her insane fanatics. Luckily she was too busy going off and doing that every day that she never had the time to pester him, like she did when they had still been confined to the burrow as kits. She had adventured and wandered and slithered all through the roots for years as a kit until she had mapped the whole thing in her head. She had found every escape tunnel and hiding place. She'd shown a few to Jai, which he had adopted as his getaway places as a kit. Calamity had always had the nose to find him though.  
But now they weren't confined to the burrows, and largely stayed away from each other when their father wasn't home. Cal was great and Jai loved her, but all the same he could only take small doses of her company at a time.

So they had their different activities. Jai could go a whole three days without seeing his sister, because she would be up in the tree somewhere, probably trying to see if she could walk on a single tight-vine a hundred feet above the ground.

Buck had taken them into the jungle on trips, but he still didn't allow them to go without himself or Lucy around, much to Cal's annoyance.  
Jai was content with staying where he was, carefully making another small statue to give to his aunty Sasha-

"Ahhh!" came a short burst of a cry from Jai's left. He immediately recognized it as his sister's voice, and dropped his carving knife and project, and raced across the roots to see what his sister was yelling about.

He launched over a root just in time to see his sister try and twist body, and she managed to bring her legs forward. She hit the ground with a scream of fright and tumbled, then slid, her body kicking up dirt around her. Jai's heart was thumping in his chest as he waited for her to move, but her body remained a crumpled form.  
Jai eventually ran to her, and kneeled beside her body.  
Her eyes were closed. Jai shook her shoulder.  
He gave out sigh of relief when Cal groaned and lifted her paw to her head.

"Ergh, I screwed that up." She said, frowning.  
Jai was too shocked to say anything at first, but it soon subsided.

"What the hell Cal!? I thought you'd died or something!" he yelled, and stood in a rage.

"Yeah, but I didn't." she said with a pained chuckle. Jai scrunched up his face and kicked her in the back.

"Ouch Jai! Jeez, I'm sorry okay. Who knows, I could have died." She said, sitting up.

"I almost wish you had." Jai growled. Cal laughed at that. "I'm telling mum what you did!"

" _I'm telling mum what you did!"_ Cal imitated in a high pitched voice. She stood, holding out her arms for balance, and waited to see if her legs gave out. When they didn't after a few moments, she stood straighter and dusted herself off. "Don't worry. I was fine."

"Whatever." Growled Jai. "What were you doing anyway?"

"Something cool."

"Something stupid it looked like."  
Calamity gave him a dark look, before saying, "I'm trying to get a new trick, but the vines around here are connected too high. I'm going to have to go further in."

"Fur-further in? In the jungle? Further into the jungle!?" Jai stammered. Cal looked at him as if he was quite an imbecile.

"Yes Jai. Where else? Further into the dirt?" she snorted sarcastically.

"You can't do that." Jai said immediately, ignoring her tease. Cal groaned.

"I bet you're going to tell me that dad would be mad and blah blah blah." Cal opened and closed her paw in the shape of a beak, again trying to imitate her brother.

"Well yeah! What if something goes wrong!? What if you break something, or worse, come across a dinosaur? No Cal, I think you should just stay here."

"Nothing's going to go wrong." Cal waved away the rant casually.

"It just did." Jai deadpanned, and he saw a change of thought flash across his sister's turquoise eyes.

She thought about it for a minute, then clicked her claws. "And that's why you have to come with me!"

"Okay that's good -What!? NO! I'm not going in there! Not without mum or dad. Why don't we just go get mum and-,"

"Mum's not gonna let me do this stunt. Come on, we'll be in and out like a flash. I just need to find a place where there's better vines and try this. Please Jai." Cal looked at her brother pleadingly.

Jai stared at her sceptically, mulling it over. He knows that she was going to do it either way. If she just ran off, he might be able to go and get Lucy before she did anything stupid, but on the other hand, Cal would just either be difficult and not obey, or would take her revenge on Jai later. Jai had been victimized by his sister's simmering rage in the past, and it was never something he looked forward to.  
After a few long moments, Jai relented. He dipped his head with a sigh.

"Fine. Ten minutes max, and then we come back."

"Deal!"  
Cal grabbed his paw and dragged him away from the clearing where their tree sat, and Jai felt his confidence thin with each running step he took. Immediately he started to doubt his decision, and the only thing that kept him going was the superior strength of his sister's grip. At this stage in their lives, Calamity was still physically superior to Jai, which he sometimes got bullied about in the village. But he knew he was growing, and could feel his own body maturing.  
Jai let himself be dragged through the jungle, twisting his head side to side to try and see anything that might be potentially dangerous. Every story his father had ever told came back to him in a flash, no longer being great tales of adventure, but lessons that Jai tried to pick any tips out of.

Luckily, Cal seemed to remember her father's lessons as well, and managed to avoid stinging trees, a hidden Giant Ants' nest, duck away when a pterosaur flew over, and slide past on all fours a sleeping troodon. When Jai saw the sleeping dino, he froze for a time, and watched to see if his sister would do anything stupid, like try to wake it. There seemed to be a moment where she was considering it, and Jai prepared himself to run, but to his relief she dipped her head again and moved on.  
Eventually they came to a fairly dense part of the jungle, with vines dangling and flowing across and down from branches. The deep green was no longer a sinister sight as when they were younger, but a comfortable calming one.

"This place is perfect!" Cal said, gazing around in wonder. The canopy was so dense that the light from the above-ground world barely filtered through, and the ground was completely covered by head-height ground-plants with huge leaves that Jai and Calamity had to crawl under to not get their eyes poked out by the edges.  
Slithering under low plants was an advantage at best, but Jai would sometimes poke his head up and/or around to check for anything else that might be thinking the same thing.

They came across a tree that looked as if it was made of many trees combined. It was huge! It spanned a whole two Triceratops' across, and was at least three of those thick. It wasn't a solid trunk, but looked like the roots and vines and branches had twisted up and down, sewing themselves through the ground to create a maze of timber and leaves.

"Whoa!" Cal gasped at the sight of it. She grabbed onto one of the thinner vines dangling down, which was detached from the ground and hung loose. "This is amazing!" Both siblings gazed around and saw there was more of these same trees, every few dozen metres, large tangles of root and trunk.

"They're Banyan trees." Jai whispered, remembering his mother's description and the sketch she'd done in the dirt.  
Calamity didn't say anything in response, but instead started to climb it. As soon as she started to, Jai felt an uncomfortable feeling in his chest, and wanted to immediately call her down, but he only realised that she would ignore him and do what she was doing anyway. Jai stared at the tree, and didn't feel as mesmerised by it. It seemed wrong. This tree -all these trees- were strangers to them. They didn't know how they worked. It was one thing for Cal to try her trick on the Grandparent Curtin Fig that they'd lived in their whole lives, and another thing entirely to try it in trees neither of them had any experience with.  
But it was far too late. Calamity was already trying to find a good vine.

"Cal," Jai whispered harshly, "I don't think this tree likes us." He stepped away from the trunk, and felt stupid for saying it. But he thought it was right at the time.  
Cal's head popped from further up the tree, and she smiled. "I know. Look," Cal pointed out across the tree, and further along the dense area. Jai turned his head to try and spot what she was pointing at. At first he didn't get it, but then he saw movement and stopped.  
A slight breeze picked up, and Jai wasn't sure where it would come from. He continued to watch, as the leaves and branches rustled, swaying and lurched across the area.

The great tree above him groaned, possible from temperature change or the breeze was moving it more than Jai could see. The other Banyan trees further down  
groaned as well.

"It's just the wind." Jai said to his sister, trying to convince himself.

"Do you feel any wind?" Cal said matter-of-factly, her back turned to him as she continued her search for the perfect vine.  
Jai looked down to his arm, his body, and even paid attention to the fringe and hair on his head. Not a single piece of fur or hair moved, and the ground plants surrounding him didn't shift either. He felt a shiver go down his spine, and crouched low to the ground.

"They're swaying…they're swaying on their own." He said quietly, scared that maybe he was going crazy, and terrified that maybe he wasn't.

"Mhm." Calamity said from above him. The tree seemed to loom above Jai, and he shuffled backwards in fear, staring at it. His rear end came up against the trunk of another tree that he'd sworn wasn't there before. The jungle around him seemed to close in, the darkness becoming darker and trying to swallow the few bits of light. _Maybe it's just under-ground clouds going overhead,_ Jai thought to himself. But there hadn't been any in sight when they'd set off, but Jai tried to remind himself that clouds could move very fast. _Not as fast as that._ Jai shook the thought away.

"Uh huh!" Came a triumphant statement from the Banyan. Cal gave one of the vines a few good tugs, then nodded with satisfaction. "Hey Jai!" She called down. "This one's the one. I'll just be a minute, and then we can get out of this creepy place."

Jai nodded, feeling his concern shift from the trees to his sister. What if it did go wrong? Jai tried pushing all his previous fear out of his mind, and quickly scaled the tree, trying to be careful not to dig his claws in too much.  
Cal was just about to jump off the branch when Jai stopped her.

"Hey, maybe you shouldn't." Jai said, eyeing the ground suspiciously, as if the ground had any influence over her sister.

Cal groaned. "Seriously? Just let me do this." She replied, taking steps backward to give herself a run up.

"But the trees don't like us!" he repeated in a harsh whisper.

"They don't know us yet, that's all. I'll make them like us."  
Before Jai could yell, or jump forward and grab her by the scruff, Calamity had raced forward and leaped through the gap in the branches, gripping the chosen vine. Jai involuntarily reached out after she was gone, and swore (flinching at himself because he knew his mother would be disappointed at his use of bad language: swearing was Calamity's bad habit.) He then slid down the trunk and ran after his sister.

He obviously couldn't keep up with her on foot, but he could at least keep her in sight. She was whooping and grinning wildly while her vine made a huge arch downwards, her tail almost brushing against the high ground-plants. Speeding along on all-fours, Jai had to constantly flick his eyes and ears up to keep track of her.  
When the vine finally came to as high as it was likely to go, Cal once again leaped, and did her flip again. Jai stopped running and watched in hope, in shock, his heart caught in his throat. _What if something goes wrong what if something goes wrong.  
_  
But nothing went wrong. Calamity hit the ground feet first and tumbled like she'd seen her father do a thousand times. When she came up, she stumbled a bit on her feet, but otherwise had succeeded. Her eyes were wide and a gaping smile on her face as she tried standing as steadily as she could, her arms still out a little for balance. She looked up at Jai, and the grin only got wider. Then she leaped into the air and laughed.

"HAHA! I did it! YEEEEEEEAAAAAAHHHHHH! Wahoo!" she started running around and high-fiving bits of plant, then came at Jai. "Holy shit did you SEE that! Oh my god I did it! Just wait till dad sees."  
Jai was still recovering from his complete and utter thankful relief to the universe and all things powerful that his sister was fine, that he didn't really have the thoughts to respond. Cal started dancing on the spot, pumping her fists into the air and trying to make a beat as she hopped from one foot to the other. "Damn straight, I did it." She kept saying.

Jai found himself smiling, but a little jealous, too. He was never really as brave as his sister, but adding another thing to the list of things that Calamity could do and Jai still couldn't, had a little sting.

Jai was lost in his thoughts that he didn't notice at first that Cal had stopped dancing. When he did, she was staring behind him with her eyes wide and her strangely pointed ears pricked forward. Jai's ears flicked up too, and he turned slowly. There was nothing behind him…yet. They could hear something making its way towards them through the underbrush, nothing huge like a Spinosaurus, and not small enough to be one of the tiny bug-eating raptors like Oak-eye.

Jai turned around to look questioningly at his sister, but she was gone. Panic gripped at Jai, and he spun around once more to check if-

It was right there.

A snout, poking out from some larger bushes only a foot away from Jai, who was close enough to see the pointed edges of teeth lining the scaly lips. More and more of the mossy green and brown snout protruded from the bush, until two slitted eyes emerged. Once both eyes settled on Jai, frozen on the spot, the scaled lips pulled back into a triumphant grin.

"Jai? Jai where are you!?" Cal was yelling from a way away. She must have thought that he'd been following her when she ran off.  
The raptor flicked his eyes in the direction of her yell briefly, then settled back on Jai. It's head then rose and pulled back, before launching towards him. Jai screamed, and then turned and ran. He knew he only just avoided the snap of the jaws, but he couldn't think now. He was running through the ground-plants as fast as he could, panic making the hiss behind him seem far closer than it probably was. He could hear the plants being crushed beneath the dino's clawed feet as it followed close behind. Eventually, it would get closer.

Jai ran for too long, he knew. He knew he should have tried to climb a tree earlier. The rock-climbing raptors from the Plates of Woe had the ability to climb, on the hand of stronger fore-arms and more flexible spines and legs, but the jungle ones only had the ability to climb for short distances before they'd have to give up.  
So when Jai's brain finally kicked in and told him to climb, it occurred to him that it was far too late. He wasn't sure how far he was up before his claws screamed in pain, his arms grew taught and his tail was being pulled mercilessly. Jai let go of the trunk of the tree, and let himself be thrown back onto the ground.

He curled up there, on the ground. He covered his face with his paws and tried to make himself an invisible ball. He was shivering all over, and could hear the raptor let out a series of warbles, as if it were laughing. He felt the clawed foot place itself near his head, the huge snort the dinosaur let out as it sniffed at him. Jai whimpered, just wanting it to be over. He couldn't help but feel a few tears flow down his cheeks.

Then, there was furious scream, and the sound of wood *whack* against flesh. Jai flinched away from the sounds.

There was hissing that followed, and terrible screeches, then angry yells.

"You bitch of a thing! Bugger off!"  
 _  
Cal?_

Jai raised his head, almost afraid to look. What he saw would have been laughable, if Jai hadn't almost been a snack a few moments ago. Cal was ducking and rolling and sliding and running, around, under, and occasionally jumping onto or over, the raptor. The scaly creature was twisting and thrashing in rage, screaming and screeching. Cal had a long stick on her hand, hitting at the raptor in random places, but as often as she could in the face, and occasionally when the raptor opened its mouth to screech, poking it in the teeth and tongue.

"Jai get up!" Cal yelled, after sliding under the raptors neck and jabbing it fiercely, making it jump back and make cough-like sounds. Jai wiped his tears away and stood.  
"Go dumbass! Go! Jeez."

He nodded, found himself watching cautiously. He couldn't leave his sister. He couldn't leave her behind. She was fighting pretty well right now, but she couldn't fight forever, and they weren't used to this. She would get tired, and eventually she would slip up. So Jai stayed, backing up against the trunk of a tree.  
 _Find something. Find something to throw, to distract him. He can't fight both of you._  
Jai nodded to himself, and looked around. The ground was too good to be rocky or dry, so there was no pebbles or collections of hard dirt. There was, however, discarded fruit from dinosaurs and birds, and possibly small village mammals. Mostly it was just the pits left behind, so there were stone-fruit seeds as well. Jai gathered what he could, and started throwing.

The first two missed, but the third hit its mark. The raptor didn't feel it, so Jai threw another.  
It took three more, and quite a powerful throw for the raptor to stop, half in shock and half in confusion, before it turned its slender neck to face Jai once again. Jai had run this situation in his head before he threw his weapons, so he knew now was the time to run. He dropped the remainder of his seeds, and turned for the nearby tree, this time making it high enough to get out of the way.

But the raptor had barely given him a second of his attention. It hadn't been long enough for Cal to run, and now Jai was safe in the tree while his sister was still on the ground, with the raptor still trying to get at her. And Calamity didn't have too long before she would start to lose her strength.

* * *

Calamity was thankful for the brief moment where the raptor was distracted. She could feel her muscles weakening with every swing of her stick, and when jai grew a backbone and started to throw seeds, she felt a little lighter, a little stronger. But when her brother turn tailed again, and the raptor faced Calamity, she felt her fatigue return. She started hitting the raptor harder than before, desperate to try and scare it off.  
But she had long noticed its attitude, its anger issues, the levels of irritation in its eyes. This raptor was young, and as cocky as Cal was herself. So she was at a stalemate.  
She hit again and again, dodging each attack.  
Her luck had to run out eventually though.  
The raptor snapped, and she dodged it as usual, but something behind her tripped her up. She fell flat on her back, her breath rushing out of her. She was quick to try and roll away, but something stomped down on the arm which gripped the stick. She screamed out, feeling a claw digging into her flesh. She opened her eyes which were filling with tears, and saw the raptor above her, grinning cruelly. Then, the creature started to open his jaws, Jai cried out 'No'. Cal closed her eyes and started to scream.

* * *

 ** _Okay, so this got waaaaay more complicated and extensive than I first planned it to be, but oh well. This whole story was just meant to be about how Cal made her spear and maybe how Jai made his bow and arrows. They were meant to go on a huge adventure like I mention in the actual story, and it will be that. Just a short story on how they did it as twelve-year-olds. Hope you enjoyed and please leave reviews._**


	2. THIS IS NOT A CHAPTER

Hey guys! I'm putting up this post because I keep getting these 'reveiws' which are actually just a link to a petition for Buck to get his own movie.  
SERIOUSLY! I HAVE ALREADY SIGNED IT! STOP SENDING THIS TO ME!  
I appreciated the first one but when it's sent to me 9 TIMES! And I have sent it to the people I believe would be interested so I beg you, stop spamming me with this link okay?  
Sorry but it's just annoying where I go to check my email and I go 'oooo a reveiw' and it's not. so stop. please.


	3. Chapter 2 Snappy and Snarky

_Again, so sorry that this took longer than usual, but i'm going to work on this spinoff and the Wishes, Dreams and Nightmares spinoff now that i've finished the second part of the main story. The third part of that won't be worked on for a while i think, just because these other stories need more work. Also, haven't said this for a while, but remember i do not own any of the Ice Age characters, all those rights to Bluesky, but all if my characters belong to me, so all rights recerved to me concerning those characters._

* * *

But as the teeth started to scrape her sides, something forced them down for a moment, hard, but then they pulled back again, dripping blood and bits of Cal's fur disguised in it. The weight pulled off of her arm as well.

Calamity realised how badly her jaw was clenched only after she un-clenched it. She opened her eyes again, softly, and managed to see the commotion happening right above her. The raptor's clawed feet were hitting the ground all around her, and the shadow its body cast above her swayed, the tail thrashing in the air as the raptor bucked and jumped. She could no longer hear the triumphant hum the raptor was making, but instead its irritated screeches again.

Cal groaned, feeling the pain in her arm. She rolled away, trying not to put weight or strain onto the injury, which had made a small pool of blood. Avoiding the stomping feet as best she could, Calamity stood and started running away from the scene. She didn't even look where she was going. Her face was heating up in embarrassment and rage. Had to run the fuck away. Couldn't even handle a single raptor.

"Cal!" someone grabbed her by her shoulders and stopped her running. She looked up, feeling herself want to sob. Instead of shame, now, she felt tired, and that she needed her mum, and her dad. But she held it in as she recognized her brother. But... then who was fighting…?  
Cal turned, still cradling her injured arm, and her ears fell when she saw her father.

"Oh no…" Cal muttered, as she watched her father swing is knife to deter one of the raptors snaps. It leaped once more and Buck swung down with his knife, cutting the raptors cheek and making it squawk in pain. He cut it in a few more spots on the neck and cheeks before is finally growled and sprung away, then ran away from the area. Buck watched it go, then looked around to make sure it didn't have any friends.

"Is there any more?" Jai asked boldly. Cal couldn't believe he was strong enough to even talk to their father right now. Cal was more scared of him than of the fact that the raptor might come back. But then again, Jai probably suspects that Buck knows all of this was Cal's fault.

"No. This one was probably jus' a juvenile who wandered from its pack." Buck turned and stared at Cal. "On its own. Withou' guardians. For fun. I hope it's _injuries_ teach i' a lesson."  
Cal looked away with flattened ears. It wasn't enough. Buck approached them and lightly hit the back of her head, making her flinch.

"Ge' back home. You're lucky I jus' got back from Esmra Wilds." He growled. Calamity almost asked him if he saw anything new, but bit her tongue. If he had, he wasn't in the mood for telling them now.

Cal and Jai turned and started making their way home slowly, Cal on the way tying a leaf around her arm. Buck followed closely behind with a tight face, saying nothing.  
When they finally made it to the clearing home, Lucy sat with her healing equipment on the log that had been carved to provide a flat seat. She sighed when she saw them, more in annoyance then relief.

Buck lightly shoved Calamity towards her mother, and there were no words between anyone as Cal got patched up and Jai watched.  
After that, Buck went to catch them some food and returned with a gutted and cut fish. However, when he returned, he only gave Lucy some, at which she smiled smugly as Calamity and Jai stared. Buck didn't grin but raised his eyebrow, as if challenging them to object. Cal was almost tempted too, but obviously decided against it. She wasn't _that_ stupid.  
Instead, Jai turned to her and asked, "Do you want me to go get us something?"

"No." Cal said calmly. "I'll go get my own."

"But, your arm-,"

"Is fine." Cal stated. "I can use the other."

Cal got off the log and made her way to the stream.

* * *

Buck watched his daughter walk away, and saw Jai was just about to follow. When the boy stood, Buck grabbed his shoulder and shoved him back down onto the log. Jai was about to object but Buck shot a single look at him, and Jai lowered his eyes. Buck then waited a few moments, then followed after Calamity.

He caught up with her as she had started climbing a tree single-handedly…literally.

Buck didn't sigh or make a face, but simply watched. He was still mad. Of course he was. Disobeying his rules had almost gotten her killed, and her brother too. Buck had once hesitated to set those rules, but then reminded himself that he had learned the rules of the jungle at sixteen, and only because he was desperate. Buck had been bringing his children out slowly, not throwing a whole lot of lessons at them. Besides, Cal and Jai had a family to return to if they got injured, or even if they didn't. Buck had been reckless because he'd been able to afford to. He had only one thing to lose, and while he was still learning back then, he hadn't much cared.

But nothing would ever be the same if he lost either of his children to the world he had worked so hard to make them a part of. He'd never be able to look Lucy in the face again. He'd never be able to look at himself ever again.

So he watched Cal carefully as she attempted to climb the tree. She was making it, albeit slowly. He was making sure she didn't slip and hurt herself further, and the chances were increasing as she visibly grew tired.

"Ya need some 'elp kid?" Buck deadpanned. He didn't want to sound comforting…not just yet. As he predicted however, he was ignored.

But finally Cal reached some of the fruit, picked them, and dropped them to the ground. She then slid down again, collected the fruit in the crook of her arm, and started to walk past Buck. As she reached level with him, her eyes staring straight ahead stubbornly, Buck grabbed her shoulder. At first his grip was firm just to stop her, as he knew she'd try rip away. She tried, but found that she couldn't get out of this one. When she did stop however, he loosened his grip, hoping she wouldn't rip away this time.

* * *

Calamity tensed her muscles ready to rip away again, but saw her mother watching them. Buck might not have seen her because she was trying to hide among the foliage, but Calamity saw her. She had raised her eyebrows and placed her paws on her hips. She flicked her head towards Buck, and then raised her eyebrows again at Cal. Cal sighed, then loosened her muscles. Her dad must have felt the change, because then he tucked at her ear lightly with a chuckle back to the river.

They sat on the sandy bank, Calamity staring at her food in her paws. Eventually her father just plucked the plum from her and started eating it himself, munching with a grin. Calamity lowered her ears, then brought her knees up and placed her chin on them, wrapping her un-injured arm around her legs.

"You know why I'm mad Cal." Buck said.

"Because you're over controlling and as soon as someone steps over the line you go crazy." Cal said angrily, then added with a mumble, "Well, crazier."

"Maybe so Calamity bu' ya know the reasons why." Buck countered, and Cal huffed. "You almost got yerself _an'_ ya brother killed today. That part o' the jungle is very touchy. And ya know how ya didn't know tha'?"

"I did know that." She muttered.

Buck sighed. "Ya did huh? Then why is it ya went swingin' there? You disturb tha' area and it'll quickly disturb you. Plants that are meant t' be safe are poisonous there, did ya notice why no creatures were there?"

Cal's mouth twitched. _He's just trying to say I don't know anything yet. Maybe he's jealous I've started adventuring before he did at my age,_ she thought with a scrunch of her nose. But grudgingly, no, she hadn't noticed the lack of animals. The 'breeze' had freaked her out though. Trees that moved on their own?

"Well no, but I was fine! I managed to finish what I was doing without getting hurt. It was only after that stupid raptor turned up! And even then, if Jai had run like I had, we wouldn't have had to fight-!,"

"Don' you _dare_ try pin this on ya brother!" Buck said angrily, pointing a claw at her, "I know I' was you who ran off. Ya jus' said yourself, you 'managed to finish wha' you were doin'. I know you must 'ave bullied him into coming with you."

Cal huffed and angrily turned her head away, staring at the water.

Buck sighed angrily. "You're excited, an' dying to get out there, I know-,"

"Yeah, I am!" Cal yelled, standing. Her good paw closed in a fist. "I've always wanted to go out in the jungle, with or without you. You've taught me enough, but you still keep us at home like we're pets, and even the pet gets to roam! Oak-eye had probably seen more of our world than I have!"

"He's a dinosaur Cal," Buck said simply, not standing, "And he lived 'ere long before I caught 'im."

"Well why dad! Why haven't you taken us out! Why haven't you taught us everything, so we can go out with you worrying."

Buck stood quickly and yelled "Because I will always worry, Cal!"

Cal didn't move, or speak, just looked worriedly at her dad. Her father saw it, and sighed. He turned his head and stared at the water.

"You two…you're my kids. Wha' else is there t' say?"  
There were a few long moments of them both calming down, before Cal boldly whispered,

"You can't protect us forever dad. Especially not Jai. He barely fought… you have to stop worrying so much. You think Jai and I never worried about you? Mum I think was used to it, but when Jai and I were kits, when you were away, we would think you'd never come back. It was worse when mum went too."  
Buck nodded. "I know. My parents used t' worry so much. It made me wan' to adventure more…" Buck looked at his daughter with a lopsided smile. "Well I guess you're forgiven."

"Thanks dad."

"But you're grounded." 

"DAD!"

* * *

Cal had been grounded for a few weeks to allow her arm to heal and for the message to sink in. Jai brought her food and was assigned to watching her, and this time, not to give in to her if she tried running again. Calamity hated the confinement, but accepted it, and tried not to complain.

The night after the small adventure, Calamity and Jai went to bed early, too tired to stay up.

Buck and Lucy bid them goodnight, and watched the youngsters go off to their chambers. Buck took a deep breath, and released it, trying to expel all the negativity that had made its way into his head and heart.

Lucy smiled at him kindly, and placed her paw on where his sat on the log. He responded by wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her into his side, trying to hold her as tightly as he could.

"You should come ou' with me next time." Buck said as his wife snuggled her face into his chest. "Then we'll see if they'll obey the rules." He added a chuckle.

"Ha! We don't need to see the future to know how that'll turn out." Lucy said with a sharp laugh. Then she breathed out, wrapping her arms around Buck more, returning his tight embrace. "But you know she'll do it again. And again. She'll do it more and more and she'll go further and she'll go for longer. She'll get so good that one day you may not be able to track her."

Buck groaned and put his head back for a moment, then snapped it back. "don' remind me. I' was almost a struggle today. Ligh' tracks, ligh' scent… You're righ'. She was righ' as well." He pushed his face into her neck, breathing in her scent. "I'll need to take them ou'. Both of 'em. I saw Cal fight with a stick…I think she'll need a spear."

"It'll certainly suit her. I think you should take them out later this year. Maybe early next year."

Buck swallowed, feeling alarmed. "Actually," he said, and rubbed the back of his neck, "I was thinkin' about takin' 'em out as soon as Cal…healed."

Lucy sat up quickly and looked at him. "What?"

Buck flinched at her expression. Even more when she stood.

'You can't take them out now! They're barely thirteen Buck!" Lucy almost yelled.

"Shhhhh." Buck hissed, and stood up as well, but crouched slightly to not seem threatening, his head tucked closely into his shoulders. "Lucy I think they're ready. An' you jus' said they'll keep goin' out anyway."

"Well not for a while." Lucy hissed, exasperated. "just wait till next year, please."

"I don' think it's going to happen like tha' love." Buck said sadly, and Lucy looked away. "it'll come next year, an' I'd suggest takin' them out, but you'd still think they're too young. And then more years will pass until…"

"Until it's too late." Lucy whispered, and sighed. She wrapped her arms around herself and turned her head to stare at the jungle. She whispered again, "I'm just scared I'll lose them."

Buck hugged her, putting his head on top of hers. "So am I, Lucy love. But if we don' prepare them now, one day we _will_ lose them, either by their own resen' for us or by Taino or Rudy…"

He felt Lucy nod. "Okay. I was just being…"

"A mother. You were bein' over-protective and reasonable. An' I can only be one o' those." He responded. Lucy laughed quietly, then pressed herself further into him. Buck leaned back to look at her with a smile, then kissed her. Lucy smiled and leaned in for another kiss. She then smiled and grabbed his paw, then led him further into the jungle.

* * *

Calamity didn't have nightmares, but her dreams made her heart beat faster. She finally was able to go out and see the world more than she ever had. It was going to be great. Amazing. Absolutely, positively, wonderfully perfect.

* * *

 _Sorry again for Buck and Lucy there but you know, have to throw it in occasionally..._


End file.
